Video Lottery Terminal

Greek punters staked over 16 billion euros on legal games of chance last year.

According to figures compiled by the Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP), Greeks bet 13.2 billion on all legal games to leave gross gaming revenues of 2.1 billion euros to the suppliers, while at least another 3 billion euros was gambled on video lottery terminals (VLTs), which EEEP has not accounted for.

OPAP, Europe's fifth-biggest betting firm by revenues, saw its third-quarter net profit rise 18.5 percent, helped by its growing video lottery business.

Net profit in the July to September period stood at 39 million euros, up from 33 million euros in the same period last year, OPAP said.

The figure was in line with analysts' forecasts.

Greek gambling giant OPAP recorded an increase in its revenues and profits in the first half of the year, its second-quarter financial figures showed on Wednesday, thanks both to betting on the soccer World Cup and the introduction of video lottery terminals (VLTs) in the Greek market.

The illegal turnover of offline gambling is in the process of turning legal. Last year alone gaming giant OPAP's turnover from games of chance on video lotto terminals (VLTs) came to 1 billion euros. This turnover has not come about through new players discovering slot machines but rather from the legalization of the existing illegal market.

OPAP, Europe's fifth biggest gaming firm, said on Wednesday it is keeping to plans to have a total of 10,000 video lottery machines (VLTs) rolled out by the end of the year.

OPAP launched the new product, which is expected to be its main growth driver, earlier this year.

The government's plan to resolve all outstanding issues in the gaming market is in full swing.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos promised on Friday to bring two bills to Parliament before Christmas, concerning online games of chance and the regulation of the casino market.

His statements came in the context of a meeting of the house's Financial Affairs Committee that discussed the revision of 2011 legislation on video lottery terminals (VLTs).

Greece-based OPAP said the adverse impact from a draft government bill cutting the number of video lottery machines (VLTs) allowed to operate in the country will be offset by a plan to extend its betting license. "The revised terms will have a neutral effect for OPAP," Damian Cope, the company's chief executive officer, told a conference call with analysts Wednesday.

Greece proposed on Friday that betting company OPAP should operate a total of 25,000 video lottery machines, down from the 35,000 machines the country's current legislation stipulates.

The Finance Ministry said on Friday it had tabled a bill which reduces the number of machines, aiming at a smaller exposure to gambling and a more effective supervision by the authorities.

OPAP, Europe's fourth-biggest betting firm, reported an 8.7 percent drop in first-quarter net profit on Monday, hurt by costs for the rollout of a new video lottery business.

OPAP said net profit came in at 39 million euros in the first three months of the year, down from 42.8 million euros in the same period a year ago.